Hammerspoon

What it is for

Hammerspoon is a Lua macOS-automation desk: you tick Show menu icon in Preferences, bind hotkeys in init.lua, and the app is Free (MIT). Use it when the job is a script you start at a public $, not when you need Keyboard Maestro’s US$36 GUI macro editor.

Soft-note: Free / MIT OSS at Hammerspoon/hammerspoon (LICENSE MIT; GitHub SPDX MIT). Distinct from Alfred, Raycast, and Keyboard Maestro.

What makes it unique: the cover is Hammerspoon’s Preferences → Behavior pane (Launch Hammerspoon at login / Check for updates / Show dock icon / Show menu icon / Keep Console window on top / Send crash data, Accessibility enabled) — product chrome, not a wordmark. The Show menu icon row itself is ops of Preferences.

Key features

• Preferences → Behavior — Launch at login / Show menu icon / Show dock icon (cover still; FAQ; docs). One desk. Cover Show menu icon sits here.
• Enable Accessibility — required for keystrokes and window control (FAQ). A permission, not a Pro tile.
• init.lua — config you edit and Reload (Getting Started). A file, not a $0 meter.
• hs.hotkey — bind keys in Lua (docs). A bind, not Get started.
• Window + app control — hs.window / hs.application (docs). A window, not Enterprise.
• Spoons — plugin modules (Spoons). A module, not SSO.

Download is a CTA (not a desk). Free / MIT stay in Pricing. There is no AI extra to drop. There is no GUI rule builder like Keyboard Maestro.

Who it's for

Best fit: Mac users who will stay on Free while they tick Show menu icon, grant Accessibility, and reload a first init.lua hotkey — then keep it at $0, not Keyboard Maestro US$36 first unless they want a GUI action list, and not if they refuse to write Lua.

Pricing

Verified 2026-10-23 (Asia/Shanghai) from hammerspoon.org plus github.com/Hammerspoon/hammerspoon (LICENSE MIT; SPDX MIT; 16323 stars on the fetch) and Getting Started. Soft-note: no paid SKU.

• Hammerspoon — Free. MIT.
• Source — Hammerspoon/hammerspoon.
• No paid SKU. Do not invent a Hammerspoon $.

Limitations / costs

• Lua required. There is no Keyboard Maestro-style GUI rule builder.
• Needs Accessibility (and often Input Monitoring / Screen Recording for some modules). FAQ: add Hammerspoon in Privacy → Accessibility.
• A script runtime, not Alfred’s Free launcher. For that bar see Alfred.
• OSS MIT. We link the verified repo.

Alternatives

• Alfred — a launcher + workflows when you want Free £0 / Powerpack £34, not init.lua.
• Raycast — a launcher + File Search when you want Free $0 / Pro $10, not Lua window hooks.
• Keyboard Maestro — a GUI macro editor when you want US$36 Type ⌘C / Activate / Type ⌘V, not a Lua runtime.

Official tutorial

We searched @Hammerspoon (200 — no product how-to we could oEmbed), @hammerspoon, @cmsj (Chris Jones personal clips, not a product how-to), and @HammerspoonApp (404). hammerspoon.org has no YouTube embed we could treat as official. No official product channel to embed. Written path: hammerspoon.org plus Getting Started, FAQ, and github.com/Hammerspoon/hammerspoon.

Website

https://www.hammerspoon.org/

Source

Catalog row curated for AI Tools Nav. Cover is Hammerspoon’s Preferences → Behavior still (Show menu icon / Accessibility enabled / Crash Data Privacy Policy). Dollars checked on hammerspoon.org + LICENSE (Free; MIT). GitHub: Hammerspoon/hammerspoon. No official YouTube.

Last verified

2026-10-23 (Asia/Shanghai) editorial check.